The Chase
It had been an interesting summer for Sasuke Uchiha. The two weeks smack bang in the middle of the holiday had been the only time he'd gotten any rest. And even then, it hadn't been very peaceful. When are family holidays ever peaceful? Most of his summer, had been spent avoiding his three psychotic stalkers. His stalkers were easily distinguishable, for one, they all had bright hair. The first one had pink hair, flamingo pink hair, the second had platinum blonde, while the final, had reject red. For another thing, each girl had high pitched voices and fought every time they even had a whiff of each other's cheap perfume. Obviously this made it easy for him to escape, but the effort of escaping perhaps five times a day was a lot. Sasuke was by no-means lazy; he just preferred to spend his energy on important things such as school work or simply enjoying himself.
Unfortunately, Sasuke was due back at school, the same school that the three harpies attended. The school in question, Konoha Academy, one, of only a handful of top academies in the world. It was so 'top of its class' that to attend, one needed an invitation or the right connections. It was both a boarding school and a day school. If you were rich enough then you boarded, while if you only made it on grades & favours then you went back home at the end of every school day. As far as Sasuke could tell, this was the only plus side: the girls were forced to leave every night.
The male boarding house was quite cool. Each boy had their own en suite room while sharing a kitchenette/lounge area with six others. Once an item, be it a toaster or a whole bedroom set reaches the ripe old age of three years old, it'd be replaced by a newer, shinier, perkier model. Sasuke allowed himself a discreet smile as he unpacked his belongings for his final year of school. He enjoyed being at school. He got to spend his life away from the prying eyes of his family. And once school had finished, the prying eyes, (and bin rummaging hands), of his obsessed trio of women-creatures. Once Sasuke was done putting the finishing touches to his room, he joined his living companions in the kitchenette. He gave a slight nod to each of them. Being almost associates at this age was perfect for when they each inherited the multi-billion company they were the heirs of. Contacts were a vital part of business.
"So, it just the five of us again this year?" asked Kiba Inuzuka heir to Hound Corp.
"I heard a rumour...that the Principal...bought...an albino African teenager...and enrolled him in the school..." replied Choji Akimichi munching on some crisps, Akimichi Crisps, the leading brand in the snack food industry.
"That's utterly ridiculous" Shino Aburame of Aburame Industries commented, "People can't be bought, it's illegal"
"People can be bought off though; your parents all do it enough of the time"
"Shikamaru has a point" agreed Sasuke, "We buy people off all the time. Perhaps she did buy someone off, in exchange for their child"
"Stranger things... have happened"
"But what does this have to do with our spare room?" Asked Kiba, confused at how they'd gotten so off topic.
"Who knows, if no one has shown up by tomorrow, we'll just dump our stuff in there as per usual" muttered Shikamaru, his eyes closed as he reclined on the sofa. No one spoke for a while, all of them wondering whether they'd get a new almost associate or not. For as long as they had all been at the school, that room had never been used. Whether it was just an odd number of boys or the kid just never showed up, they never knew. All they did know was that that particular room was usually home to their suitcases. As they had nothing further to say to each other and had all eaten, the night faded away until they all woke up the next morning with no enthusiasm for the day ahead.
Breakfast was at eight in the main school cafeteria. They sat at their usual table by the left hand side of the room. It had always been their table since the first day. Being the public school that it was, the selection of food was vast and in the unlikely event that you'd want something else, the chef was always on hand to prepare it for you with apologises for not having thought of it sooner. Registration started at ten to nine. This was generally the worst part of the day for Sasuke as it would be at this very moment when the three girls would realise that, yes, he had attended school that day. Right from the classroom door to his seat, there would be shrieking, arm clinging, bitching, lash fluttering, lip licking, party inviting and worst of all, hair flicking. Every morning it'd be the same routine. They'd go to so much trouble and only end up with giving Sasuke a headache.
Sasuke sighed as the girls grabbed at him. He'd thought back on all the things he'd done to try and deter the girls. He'd done everything short of getting a restraining order or coming out the closet, not that he was even in or near the closet to begin with. Sasuke was convinced that there was nothing left he could do but to endure it and then leave it behind him when he went to university next year. That was the plan. That was the plan, so far. The bell rang. It could barely be heard over the wailing of the three stooges. But it was heard nonetheless. Reluctantly the girls dragged themselves back to their seats. Luckily, the class was seated alphabetically; this meant that Sasuke Uchiha sat far away from Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka and Karin Nonamichi.
"Alright, alright class, settle down. Right, I'm going to take this register and then I'm going to start teaching you all about early Victorian poetry!" began the teacher settling into his desk at the front. "Oh! And before I forget, we have a new student! The Principal's very own long lost grandson!" smiled Mr Umino, extending a hand towards the classroom door, "Naruto Uzumaki!" The door knob twitched and then rattled but the door remained firmly in the doorway. There was a brief moment of silence when through the small window in the door; the class could see the large breasts of the Principal.
"GRANNY! I don't want to go in there! I can't sit with a bunch of hob-knobbing polo-playing posh twats! Those stuck up spoon fed posers won't get me!"
"Brat! You Are Going In There regardless of Who is in that Class!"
"But Granny!"
"Even if I have to tie you to that chair with steel chains! Now GET IN THERE!" shouted Principal Tsunade wrenching open the door and throwing her Grandson in, "And don't call me Granny!" she yelled slamming the door shut.
Sasuke didn't know whether to be thoroughly insulted or a little bit entertained. Sure, the brat called him a hob-knobbing polo-playing twat and a stuck up spoon fed poser but in reality, that was all true. The kid at the front of the class picked himself up from the floor and tried to fix the crumpled mess which was his uniform. He turned to face the class, looked each and every one of them in the eye, and spoke, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! And don't you forget it!"
He was loud. His voice, his hair, his entire presence was loud. With tanned skin, golden locks and vibrant blue eyes, he certainly made an impact. Add some suspicious looking facial scars and the sound of his voice, it was clear to everyone, he didn't belong here.
Mr Umino cleared his throat gaining the classes attention. "Thank you Naruto for that...explosive introduction, now if you'd like to take your seat at the back, we can get back to the lesson"
"Okay doke" replied Naruto picking his school bag off the floor and squeezing through the rows without grace. With each desk he passed, he managed to knock, push, step on and generally bash everything and everyone. He eventually made it, taking his seat besides Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other while Mr Umino began listing well known Victorian poets on the black board. They sized each other up. They checked each other out and then Naruto spoke, "Look Dude, I know, I'm a gorgeous piece of delectable man-meat but I'm kind of already involved and even if I weren't, I wouldn't go for someone like you"
"We'll just have to see about that," Sasuke smirked, deciding, he could get used to the blonde idiot and perhaps he wasn't as far from the closet as he thought. Naruto on the other hand detested the smirking bastard almost as much as he detested Victorian Poetry.
The bell rang and most of the students filed out into the corridors. Sakura, Ino and Karin rushed towards the back of the room to grab on to Sasuke. Naruto, on the other hand, took out his phone and wandered away leaving Sasuke to be fought over like a piece of meat. "Sasuke walk me to class!"
"He can't Forehead! He's taking me" clucked Ino squeezing Sasuke's arm.
"Hah! Funny!" Karin screeched, "I'm afraid, he's mine!" Sasuke, stuck in the middle, sighed. He needed to catch up with that Naruto kid. He tried to wrench his arm free but Ino's hold was too tight. "You're hurting him! Let go!" Karin let go f Sasuke's sleeve before attempting to rip Ino's hand away.
"Don't touch me bitch!"
"Hey! Leave some fight for me!" Sakura screamed joining in the fight. With their talons out, they took their fight to the floor. Punching, scratching and hair pulling would have been entertainment if it didn't happen so often. Stepping away from the fight, Sasuke finally left the room in hopes of finding that kid. He only had about ten minutes left, and Naruto could be anywhere. Sasuke wasn't a hundred percent sure, but there was something that that kid did to him. Instead of a scathing remark or a grunt...he...he flirted. Flirting wasn't something he usually took part in. Not like Kiba who was always trying to woo the fairer sex. He stopped walking. Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue and he's not interested in Naruto at all. It didn't make any sense that he would suddenly start flirting with anyone. The next time Sasuke saw Naruto, he would say something completely horrible and not flirt at all. Turning on his heel, he headed towards his next class, French, but on the way he passed a shadowed nook.
"What am I wearing?" Sasuke heard, "Well, it's a school uniform...no, not tight at all, very baggy in fact, plenty of room...ruining the mood? I'm not having phone sex at ten in the morning!" Phone Sex... Thought Sasuke leaning in closer to the nook in order to hear better, "well, it's different over the phone, you're not here to stimulate me and I can't really get a boner as I have French in a minute" this was Sasuke's cue to mosey along.
Sasuke took his seat in Monsieur Gai's classroom. His mind a whirl with the words 'sex', 'phone' and 'stim-u-late" flashing in erotic neon colours. Obviously hearing such phrases so early in the morning had surprised him and that was why he couldn't stop thinking about them, it had nothing to do with Naruto's voice. The bell rang. Sasuke braced himself. The first to enter the room was Naruto who took his seat beside Sasuke, it didn't take a genius to work out that this ridiculously stuck up school would sit everyone alphabetically in every lesson. Neither spoke to one another as the rest of the class entered. "Sasuke! Where'd you go? Did that Ino scare you away with her shrill voice ringing in your ears?" squawked Karin.
"Sasuke! Is Karin bothering you?"
"Sasuke! Do you want me to get rid of Karin and Ino for you?" shouted Sakura racing into the room and pushing through Karin and Ino. They stood squabbling over who's bothering who. Sasuke was growing more and more aggravated with them.
"Excuse me!"
They turned towards Naruto, "Yeah, you three, I'm really sorry to disturb you but you're in my line of vision and it's really damaging my retinas! Move it!" he yelled. Everyone in the entire class turned to face, the Harpies, Sasuke and Naruto. It was more Naruto that everyone was looking at. No one could believe it. Someone, told the Harpies off? There was no time for a comeback as Monsieur Gai entered the classroom.
"BONJOUR mes etudiants! Ca va?"
"Forget about their ugly faces, that hurts more!" muttered Naruto as he looked as the green clad teacher. Sasuke smirked to himself.
"Unlike your face of course, which I think, is a blessing" remarked Sasuke unsure whether he meant it to sound so sincere. He turned away from Naruto to glare out the window. Why couldn't he say something mean?
"What did you say?"
"I said your face, your face is, eye-catching..." finished Sasuke lamely.
"Listen," replied Naruto, "If you're going to insist on speaking to me, then please, for the love of god, come up with some better lines or better yet, don't speak to me!"
Again, he turned away from Naruto. There he went again, flirting. Flirting poorly but flirting nonetheless. He would have to come up with better lines, not that he was intending on continuing this appalling attempt at flirting. At least in the evening he would be free of Naruto & the Harpies.
For the rest of the day, in every lesson, Sasuke would come out with some lame line and force feed it to Naruto, who would then send him a dirty look and call him a bastard. By the end of the day, he was almost crawling back to his dorm. He was so exhausted. Those horrible girls, the awful chat up lines, he'd had a bad day, he just wasn't himself. He'd been acting like some lame love struck douche bag while Naruto had been cool. If only it had been the other way around. At least now, thought Sasuke, I'll have time to brood in my room.
He opened the door to dorm seven and his mouth dropped open. The place was a mess. Like a tsunami had hit. There were food wrappers everywhere, chairs tipped over, mugs with half drunk tea on every surface and paper, random bits of paper everywhere! Sasuke couldn't believe it. On top of the mess, there was booming music and disturbingly loud music coming from the spare room. Sasuke tiptoed his way through the pig sty and slammed open the door. Choji, Kiba, Shino and Shikamaru were sprawled in what little space available chatting to an eccentric blonde, an eccentric blonde that Sasuke just can't seem to speak to. "You? You're the other guy that lives here? This is going to be a long year..." remarked Naruto. Sasuke couldn't agree more.
"I was about to say the same," smirked Sasuke sending a wink Naruto's way.